Hey, Check This Out

Happy Sunday

Has anybody else been miserable all week? I’ve been 100% off my game, with 0% indication from my brain as to why. January syndrome, I’m guessing. I’d planned to spend the entire weekend cleaning and making lists to make myself feel more organised and together next week, but I got wasted on Friday night and did zero things on Saturday instead. Maybe I’ll squeeze in some adulting this afternoon. I’d put money on me not doing that though. Anyway..

I’d love to tell you about some good things that happened this week, but I’ve done literally nothing of note. So let’s talk about other stuff instead.

Rocking the adult colouring book boat

This is officially the Deliciously Stella of the adult colouring book world. Page after page of down to earth, hilarious illustrations of the harsh reality of the world we actually live in. I’m on board with anything that takes the piss out of something that people are taking far too seriously, and this 100% ticks that box. All hail Charlotte Farmer (the illustrator).

The Passive Aggressive Colouring Book (which was sent to me for review, thanks guys!) is published by Ilex and you can pre-order it on Amazon now.

More peanut butter

Can you believe that I made it to January 2016 without ever trying shop bought flavoured peanut butter? Pip & Nut sent me a few jars to try for the perfect introduction. I can’t taste the cinnamon + honey cashew butter yet because Veganuary, but that coconut almond butter is doing all the right things for me until February. My sister likes it too, as I discovered when I opened the jar and found that half of it had mysteriously disappeared.

Find out more about Pip & Nut on their website and keep an eye out for their nut butters on the Sainsbury’s shelves..

BakeBox is a new foodie subscription box service that I was very excited about trying out. It sends out bi-monthly boxes bursting with baking gear. Not annoying pointless stuff either, I’m going to be using pretty much everything that arrived in that box in the very near future – I mean, a bundt cake tin? I’m psyched. There’s a recipe card to accompany each component so you can get an idea of how to use everything, if you’ve got a cupcake-lovin’ friends birthday coming up, this is worth considering.

You can find out more about BakeBox on their website. Boxes are £14.99 and contain 6-8 items of bakeware.

This idiot has found herself in an eBook this week

OK so the recipe in there isn’t vegan because it’s from last year, so apologies for featuring eggs during January.. but how cool does that page look! Thanks to Adjustable Beds for featuring me in their Breakfast in Bed eBook.

On a sadder note..

I don’t want to leave my reflection of this week without acknowledging the miserable things that have set the tone across the whole country. This week, we said far too early goodbyes to both David Bowie and Alan Rickman.

When an artist like Bowie dies, it hits pretty hard, because your connection with their message and the mark that they’ve left on the world is so strong. I wasn’t part of a generation that was swept up in his magic, but slowly discovered little pockets of him in the form of an album here and a film (I’m looking at you Labyrinth) there until I developed a full blown obsession with him. He was an amazing man, and I’ve very much enjoyed overhearing stories about lives that he changed with his art.

I think that each death announced from the Harry Potter cast, and they will all eventually come, will be this heartbreaking. I won’t say that it’s akin to losing a family member because of course it’s not, but it really does hurt more than you think it will to be made aware of the fact that somebody who took up so much space in your head as a child just doesn’t exist anymore. Alan Rickman was an amazing performer, and he’ll be sorely missed by everyone.

I’ll be spending this Sunday watching a lot of Harry Potter, listening to a lot of Bowie and just moping a bit, because it does all feel like a great big rain cloud. And it’s fine to feel it for a bit. I’ll leave you with Alan’s goodbye to Harry Potter fans as given to Empire Magazine a few years ago.

A warning, i have lots to say…that colouring book is bloody fantastic! Flavoured peanut butters, why has noone done this yet, and where oh where can I get my hands on some! I also (rather naively didn’t consider honey to be an animal by-product. what’s the argument against breeding more bees? How is that a bad thing, the world needs more bees, and if everyone stopped eating honey they would decline even more!) I’ve also just bought a new bundt tin, but it pales in comparison to yours – that’s a beauty!! Plus I love the idea of a bakebox, gonig to look into that one! Congrats on the e-book it looks super swish! And on the last point, still overwhelmingly sad. Listening to the half blood prince on my long commute to work this morning (i do a good 1hr 45 on a friday night and a monday morning each week so HP audiobook keeps me company!) and it made my heart heavy, much like Bowie dying made my dads, funny how it hit two generations so hard last week! Sorry this has been an essay, I had lots to comment on the above, can’t be a bad thing! Alice xxx

With the bee thing, I think it’s about honey being made by them for them to keep fed in the winter, I was sceptical of the sense in suggesting we cut down on production and consumption of honey because, as you say, there’s already a terrible bee shortage! I found this link interesting: http://www.veganuary.com/myths/whats-wrong-eating-honey-dont-bees-make-naturally/ but I’m yet to make up my mind on how I feel about it personally.. there’s no black and white when it comes to this stuff I feel. I’m VERY excited to make my first bundt cake. I’m still not over the big old death vibes of last week, glad it’s not just me. And.. finally.. never apologise for an essay 😉 C x